Inside France: Macron's swansong, Sarkozy's tag and a booze ban for Smurfs
Inside France is our weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip in France that you might not have heard about. It's published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox, by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article.
Macron marathon
I spent Tuesday night channel hopping between the semi final of the Eurovision Song Contest and Emmanuel Macron's
three-hour TV interview
- a slight change of pace but both had an overly complicated format and at least one man in a muscle vest (in Paris that was the fitness influencer Tibo InShape, not Macron).
One other thing that they have in common is that both are unlikely to have any significant impact on French domestic politics.
Macron's performance was, as ever, impressive - eloquent, assured and thoroughly across the details of a wide range of policies. But will it save him from two years as a lame duck president? It seems unlikely, with the parliament as deadlocked as ever.
Our politics expert John Lichfield
described it as
"a premature political obituary".
Talking France
We discuss Macron's attempted reset, and the political landscape between now and 2027, in the latest episode of the Talking France podcast.
We also talked about 'urban rodeos' and French bureaucracy, as well as a move by MPs to promote to late Captain Alfred Dreyfus, and why the Dreyfus Affair is still relevant to modern politics, despite happening 130 years ago. I find this topic fascinating and although I was only able to give a very brief summary of it on the podcast, I have
included some suggestions
for books, films and podcasts about the case if anyone is inspired to find out more. Listen
here
or on the link below.
Tag team
In December 2024 France's ex president Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced - after more than a decade of trials and appeals - to wear an electronic tag for one year. The tag was fitted in February (after Sarko enjoyed a nice holiday somewhere sunny) and then on Thursday - May 15th -
it was removed
. It turns out that the 70-year-old was entitled to apply for an early parole on the grounds of his age, which was approved.
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As you can imagine, this sparked a certain anger at the apparent leniency of his punishment (although he has other ongoing legal matters which could result in stiffer penalties).
Why is it so hard to send French politicians to jail?
One commentator jokingly suggested donating it to a museum of political scandals at his Les Républicains party headquarters, along with François Fillon's suit and Jean-François Copé's
pain au chocolat
(you may remember that Fillon accepted 'gifts' of suits worth €48,000 while Copé attracted mockery by estimating the cost of a
pain au chocolat
at "10 or 15 centimes").
🔴 URGENT : le bracelet électronique de Nicolas Sarkozy sera installé dans une vitrine à l'entrée du siège du parti LR, en compagnie des plus grandes reliques qui ont fait l'histoire du parti (les costumes de François Fillon, le pain au chocolat de Jean-François Copé, etc.).
[image or embed]
— Olivier Varlan (
@oliviervarlan.bsky.social
)
15 May 2025 at 12:01
Smurfew
My favourite story of the week is undoubtedly this one -
French mayor bans sale of alcohol to Smurfs
.
The thing about this municipal decree (which just to be clear is a joke, it's timed for Saturday when the Brittany town attempts to break the world record for the largest gathering of people dressed as Smurfs) is that it's far from the first bizarre mayoral decree.
Recent examples include the mayors who
ordered the rain to stop
, and the mayor who
banned mosquitoes
.
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Which just goes to show that not only do some French mayors have a good sense of humour, they also
have a surprising degree of power
. They can and frequently do enact local bylaws that are both real and far-reaching.
Astérix
And if you are looking for more French humour, I really recommend the new Astérix & Obélix series which is delightful - sweet, funny and with a great soundtrack and lots of topical French jokes (like the clan using
'
le quarante-neuf trois
'
to replace their chief with Obélix in order to win a fight).
Considering all the Gauls have names ending in 'ix', I thought the writers showed heroic restraint by waiting until the end to introduce a character named after the streaming service the show appears on.
Inside France is our weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip in France that you might not have heard about. It's published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox, by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article.
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